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T HE ANIMALS’ 
CHRISTMAS TREE 


JOHN P. PETERS 



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The Animals' Christmas Tree 









































































The 

Animals' Christmas Tree 


By 

The Rev* John P* Peters 


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New Yorfc 

E* P* Dutton & Company 
68J Fifth Avenue 


n - 3-3^7 



Copyright, 1916 

BY 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 


Ube Tknickcrbocfeer f>ree«, mew 

NOV 29 1916 

©Cl. A 44 6 65 4 


PUBLISHER’S NOTE 


Originally published in the 
columns of The Churchman , this 
little fable has been so often asked 
for, and since the outbreak of the 
War has proved to embody such an 
obvious and important truth, that 
it has been thought best to give it 
a wider publicity by re-issuing in 
its present form. 

Acknowledgment is hereby 
made of the courteous permission 
given by the Editor of The Church- 


man. 



The Animals' Christmas Tree 

















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The 

Animals' Christmas Tree 

j* 

Once upon a time the animals 
decided to have a Christmas tree, 
and this was how it came about. 
The swifts and the swallows in 
the chimneys in the country houses, 
awakened from their sleep by joy 
and laughter, had stolen down 
and peeped in upon scenes of 
happiness, the centre of which was 
always an evergreen tree covered 


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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


with wonderful fruit, bright balls 
of many colors, and sparkling 
threads of gold and silver, lying 
like beautiful frost-work among the 
green fir needles. A sweet, fairy- 
like figure of a Christ-Child or 
an angel rested high among the 
branches, and underneath the tree 
were dolls and sleds and skates 
and drums and toys of every sort, 
and furs and gloves and tippets, 
ribbons and handkerchiefs, and 
all the things that boys and girls 
need and like; and all about this 
tree were gathered always little 
children with faces oh ! so full 
of wonderment and expectation, 


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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


changing to radiant, sparkling 
merriment as toys and candies 
were taken off the tree or from 
underneath its boughs and dis- 
tributed among them. 

The swifts and the swallows told 
their feathered friends all about it, 
and they told others, both birds 
and animals, until at last it began 
to be rumored through all the 
animal world that on one day in 
the year the children of men were 
made wonderfully happy by 
means of some sort of a festival 
which they held about a fir-tree 
from the forest. Now, of course 
the tame animals and the house 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


animals, the dogs and the cats and 
the mice, knew something more 
about this festival. But then, they 
did not exchange visits with the 
wild animals, because they felt 
themselves above them. They 
were always trying to be like men 
and women, you know, putting on 
airs and pretending to know every- 
thing ; but after all they were 
animals and could not help making 
friendships now and then with the 
wild creatures, especially when the 
men and women were not there. 
And when they were asked about 
the Christmas tree, they told still 
more wonderful stories than the 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


swifts and the swallows from the 
chimneys had told, for some of 
them had taken part in these 
festivals, and some had even re- 
ceived presents from the tree, just 
like the children. They said that 
the tree was called a Christmas 
tree, because that strange fruit 
and that wonderful frosting came 
on it only in the Christmas time, 
and that the Christmas time was 
the time when men and women and 
little children, too, were always 
kind and good and loving and gave 
things to one another; and they 
said, moreover, that on the Christ- 
mas tree grew the things which 


ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


everyone wanted and which would 
make them happy, and that it was 
so, because in the Christmas time 
everyone was trying to make every- 
one else happy and to think of 
what other people would like. 
This they said was what they had 
seen' and heard told about Christ- 
mas trees. They did not quite 
understand why it was so but they 
knew that the Christmas tree, 
when rightly made, brought the 
Christmas spirit, and they had 
heard men say that the Christmas 
spirit was the great thing, and that 
that was what made everyone 
happy. 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


Well, the long and the short of it 
was that the animals talked of it 
in their dens and on their roosts, 
in the fields and in the forests, wild 
beasts and tame alike — the cows 
and horses in their stalls, the sheep 
in their fold, the doves in their 
cotes, and the poultry in the poultry 
yard, until all agreed that a Christ- 
mas tree would be a grand thing 
for wild and tame alike. Like the 
men they, too, would have a tree 
of their very own. But how to do 
it? 

Then the lion called a meeting of 
all the creatures, wild and tame, 
for you know the lion is king of 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


beasts and when he calls they all 
must come. You know, too, that 
before and during and after these 
animal congresses, there is a royal 
peace. The lamb can come to the 
meeting and sit down by the wolf, 
and the wolf dare not touch him; 
the dove may perch on the bough 
between the hawk and the owl and 
neither will harm him, when the 
great king of beasts has summoned 
them all together to take counsel. 
But you know all about the rules 
of the animals, for you have read 
them in books, and you have seen 
the pictures: how the lion sits on 
his throne with a crown on one side 


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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


of his head, and all the other 
creatures gather about — the ele- 
phant, and giraffe, the hippopota- 
mus, the buffalo, wolves and tigers 
and leopards, foxes and deer, goats 
and sheep, monkeys and orang- 
outangs, parrots and robins and 
turkeys and swans and storks and 
eagles and frogs and lizards and 
alligators, and all the rest besides. 

Then, when the lion had called 
the meeting to order, the swifts 
and the swallows told what they 
had seen, and a fat little pug-dog, 
with a ribbon and a silver bell 
about his neck, wheezed out a 
story of a Christmas tree that he 


ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


had seen, and how a silver bell had 
grown on that tree for him and a 
whole box of the best sweets he 
had ever dreamed of while he 
lay comfortably snoozing on his 
cushion before the fire. And a 
Persian cat, with her hair turned 
the wrong way, mewed out her 
story of a Christmas tree that she 
had attended, and how there was a 
white mouse made of cream cheese 
for her creeping about beneath 
the branches. 

Then the monkeys chattered 
and the elephants trumpeted, the 
horses neighed, the hyenas laughed, 
and each in its own way argued for 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


a Christmas tree and told what 
they would do to help to make it. 
The elephant would go into the 
forest and choose the tree and pull 
it up. The buffaloes would drag 
it in. The giraffe would fix the 
ornaments on the higher limbs, 
because its neck was long. The 
monkeys would scramble up where 
the giraffe could not reach. The 
squirrels could run out on the slen- 
der twigs and help the monkeys. 
The birds would fly about and 
get the golden threads and put 
them on the tree with their beaks. 
The fire-flies would hide themselves 
among the branches and sparkle 


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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


like diamonds, and the glow-worms 
promised to help the fire-flies by 
playing candles, if someone would 
lift them up and put them on the 
branches. The parrots and paro- 
quets and other birds of gay 
plumage would give feathers to 
hang among the branches, and the 
humming-birds promised to flutter 
in and out among the twigs, and 
the sheep to give white wool to lie 
like snow among the boughs. 

Then the parrots screeched and 
the peacocks screamed with delight, 
and you and I never could have 
told whether anybody voted aye 
or nay; but the lion knew and the 
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ANIMALS' CHRISTMAS TREE 


owl, for he was clerk, set it down 
in the minutes, as the lion bade 
him, that all the birds and beasts 
would do their part. So each 
planned what he could do. Even 
the little beetle, who makes great 
balls of earth, thought that if he 
could only once see one of those 
gay balls that grow on the chil- 
dren’s Christmas tree, he might 
make some for the animals’ tree; 
different birds and beasts told of 
the oranges and apples and holly- 
berries and who knows what they 
could get and hang upon the tree. 
You see the animals came from 
many places, and then, too, they 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


could send the carrier pigeons to 
go and bring fruit and berries, and 
who knows what besides, from oh, 
so far away, because the carrier 
pigeons can fly through the air 
no one knows how fast or how far. 

Well, I cannot tell you every- 
thing that each one was going to 
do, but if you will go and get your 
Noah’s ark and take the animals 
out one by one, then you surely 
will think it out for yourself, for 
you have all the animals there. 

And so they arranged how they 
would ornament the tree, and the 
next thing was to decide what 
presents should be hung on the 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


tree or put beneath its boughs, for 
each one must have his present. 
Well, after much discussion in 
roars, and bellows, crows and 
croaks, lows and screams and 
bleats, and baas and grunts, and 
all the other sounds of bird and 
beast language, it was voted that 
each might choose the present he 
wished hung on the tree. The 
clerkly owl should call their names 
one by one, and each might declare 
his choice. So they began. The 
parrots and the macaws thought 
that they would like oranges and 
bananas and such things, which 
would look so pretty on the tree, 

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x ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


too ; and so they were arranged for. 
The robins and the cedar birds 
chose cherries; the partridges, par- 
tridge berries; the squirrels, red 
and gray and black, nuts and 
apples and pears. The monkeys 
said the popcorn strings would do 
for them, and the cats and dogs, 
remembering the Christmas gifts 
which the pug-dog and Persian cat 
had told about, asked for tiny 
mice made of cream cheese or 
chocolate. By and by it came 
the pig’s turn to tell his choice. 
“Grunt, grunt!” said the pig, “I 
want a nice pail of swill hung on 
the very lowest bough of all.” 


ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


“Ugh!” said the black leopard, 
so sleek and so clean. 

“Faugh!” said the gazelle, with 
his dainty sense of smell. 

“Neigh!” said the horse, so 
daintily groomed. 

‘ ‘ What ! ’ ’ roared the lion, ‘ ‘ what's 
that you want?” 

“A pail of swill,” grunted the 
pig. “Each one has chosen what 
he wants, and I have a right to 
choose what I want.” 

“But,” roared the lion, “each 
one has chosen something beauti- 
ful to make the tree a joy to all.” 

“Grunt, grunt,” said the pig. 
“The parrots and the macaws are 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


going to have oranges and bananas, 
and the robins and the cedar birds 
red cherries, the partridges their 
berries, the squirrels nuts and 
apples and pears, the dog and the 
cat their cream and chocolate mice. 
They all have what they want to 
eat. Grunt, grunt,” said he; “I 
will have what I want to eat, too, 
and what I want is a pail of swill.” 

Now, you see, it had been voted, 
as I told you, that each should 
choose what he wanted hung on 
the tree for him, and so the lion 
could not help himself. If the 
pig chose swill, swill he must have, 
and angrily he had to roar: “If 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


the pig wants swill, a pail of swill 
he must have, hung on the lowest 
bough of the tree!” 

Then the wolf’s wicked eyes 
gleamed, for his turn was next, and 
he said : “If the pig has swill be- 
cause he wants swill to eat, I 
must have what I want to eat, and 
I want a tender lamb, six months 
old.” And at that all the lambs 
and the sheep bleated and baaed. 

‘ ‘ Ha, ha ! ” barked the fox ; * ‘ then 
I want a turkey!” And the tur- 
keys gobbled in fear. 

“And I,” said the tiger, “want 
a yearling calf.” And the cows 
and the calves lowed in horror. 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 

“And I, ” said the owl, the clerk, 
“I want a plump dove.” 

“And I,” said the hawk, “will' 
take a rabbit. ” 

“And I,” said the leopard, “want 
a deer or a gazelle.” 

Then all was fear and uproar. 
The hares and the rabbits scuttled 
into the grass; the gazelles and the 
deer bounded away; the sheep and 
cattle crowded close together; the 
small birds rose in the air in flocks ; 
and the Christmas tree was like 
to have come to grief and ended, 
not in Christmas joy, but in fear 
and hatred and terror. 

Then a little timid lamb stepped 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


out and bleated: “Ah! king lion, 
it would be very sad if all the 
animals should lose their Christ- 
mas tree, for the very thought of 
that tree has brought us closer 
together, and here we were, wild 
and tame, fierce and timid, met 
together as friends; and oh! king 
lion, rather than there should not 
be a tree, they may take me and 
hang me on it. Let them not take 
the turkeys and gazelles and the 
calves and the rabbits, and all the 
rest that they have chosen. Let 
the tigers and leopards, and wolves 
and foxes and eagles, and hawks 
and owls and all their kind be 
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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


content that their Christmas pres- 
ent shall be a lamb; and so we 
may come together again and have 
our happy Christmas tree, and each 
have what he wishes.” 

“But,” said the lion, “what will 
you have? If you give yourself, 
then you will have no Christmas 
present. ” 

“Yes,” said the lamb, “I, too, 
shall have what I want, for I shall 
have brought them all together 
again, and made each one happy.” 

Then a dove fluttered down 
from a tree and landed on the 
ground beside the lamb, and very 
timidly and softly she cooed: 

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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


“Take me, too, king lion, as the 
present for the owls and the hawks, 
and the weasels and the minks, 
because for them a lamb is too big. 
I am the best present for them. 
Take me, king lion!” 

Then the lion roared: “See what 
the lamb and the dove have done! 
My food, oh, tigers and leopards 
and wolves and eagles and all your 
kind, is like your food ; but I would 
rather eat nothing from our Christ- 
mas tree than take this lamb or 
this dove for my present.” 

Then all the beasts kept still, be- 
cause the lion roared so loud and 
angrily, and the birds that were 
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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


flying away settled on the branches 
of the trees, and the gazelles 
stopped their running and turned 
their heads to listen, and the 
rabbits peeped out through the 
grass and brush where they had, 
hid. Then the lion turned to the 
pig, and roared : 

“See this lamb and this dove! 
Are you not ashamed for what you 
have done? You have spoiled all 
our happiness. Will you take 
back your choice, you pig, or do 
you wish to ruin our Christmas 
tree?” 

“Grunt, grunt,” said the pig, 
“it is my right. I want something 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


good. I don’t care for your lambs 
and your doves. I want my swill ! ’ ’ 

Then the lion roared again : 
4 ‘Have all chosen?” and all an- 
swered, “Yes.” 

“Then,” said the lion, “it is my 
choice. ” 

And all said: “It is.” 

“I love fat and tender pigs. I 
choose a pig for my Christmas 
gift, ” roared the lion. 

Did you ever hear a pig squeal? 
Oh, how that pig squealed then! 
And he got up on his fat little legs 
and tried to run away, but all the 
animals gathered around in a ring 
and the hyenas laughed, and the 
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ANIMALS* CHRISTMAS TREE 


jackals cried, and the dogs and the 
wolves and the foxes headed him 
off, and hunted the poor pig back 
again. Then, when the pig found 
that he could not run away, he lay 
down on his back with his feet in 
the air and squealed with all his 
might: “Oh, I don’t want the swill; 
oh, I don’t want the swill ! I take it 
all back ! I don’t want anything ! ’ ’ 
But at first no one heard him, 
because all were talking at once in 
their own way — barking and growl- 
ing and roaring and chattering ; but 
by and by the lion saw that the 
pig was squealing something, so he 
roared for silence, and then they 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


all heard the pig squeal out that 
he did not want any swill. And 
the lion roared aloud: “You have 
heard. Has the owl recorded that 
the pig will have no swill?” 

“ Yes, ” said the owl. 

“Then,” said the lion, “record 
that the lion wants no pig.” 

Then the tiger growled: “And 
I want no calf,” and one by one 
the leopard and the eagle, the wolf 
and the fox, the hawk and the owl, 
and all their kind, took back their 
votes. 

And so it came about that the 
animals did have a Christmas tree 
after all; but instead of hanging 


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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


lambs and doves upon the tree, 
they agreed that they could hang 
little images of lambs and doves, 
and other birds and animals, too, 
perhaps. And by and by the 
custom spread until the humans 
came to hang the same little images 
on their trees, too, and when you 
see a little figure of a lamb or a 
dove on the Christmas tree, you 
may know that it is all because 
the lamb and the dove, by their 
unselfishness, saved the animals 
from strife; for neither thought 
what he wanted from the tree, but 
each was ready to give himself for. 
the others, so that they might not 
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ANIMALS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 


fight and kill one another at the 
Christmas time. 

Was it not cruel of the wolves 
and tigers and leopards and foxes 
to wish to eat the doves and sheep 
and rabbits and hares? But after 
all, the worst one of the lot, I think, 
was the pig; for the pig began the 
trouble, because he only thought of 
what Mr. Pig wanted for himself. 

And do you know, I think that 
after all that is the trouble every- 
where. We can get along all right 
if the pig will only keep away, for 
when the pig comes and begins to 
think what he can get for himself, 
without thinking of the pleasure 


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ANIMALS' CHRISTMAS TREE 


and the comfort of anyone else, 
why, then the fun is all spoiled, and 
pretty soon all sorts of bad tempers 
and bad passions are let loose. 


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